GPS: A Fatally Misleading Travel Companion

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Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom
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I lived that nightmare once -.

A few years back we were on vacation and driving from extreme southeast Texas to the Big Bend National Prk in west Texas. I programmed the destination into my trusty Garmin and off we went. All was well till we left Laredo headed for Eagle Pass. At first the road was 6 lanes wide, then four, then a good two lane paved road, and then it tuned into a decent gravel road. I was hoping it was only a short disance back to a paved road, so we soildered on. The road got progressively worse. There were frequent one lane bridges over dry washes (at least they were dry then). There was nothing on the sides of the road but oil wells and fences. We saw one person on foot (I assume an illegal Mexican) and one oil well service truck, but not much else. Eventually we started having to dodge holes filled with water. I finally approached a really big hole filled with water that spanned the entire "road." We stopped and I pitched a big rock into the hole. Based on the kerr-plunk I got, I could tell the hole was too deep for our Grand Prix. While we were debating what to do, a Border Patrol Agent in a Chevy Blazer / Tahoe came up behind us. When I told him where we were heading, he just laughed. He warned us the road got even worse up ahead. We made the smart decision and back tracked to Laredo and took a better (but tehoretically longer) route.

I've also had the GPS to instruct me to turn the wrong way on to a one way street, and to tell me to take a non-existent street. Package delivery guys have trouble finding my Mother's house because the GPS database thinks the address is 7 miles further down the road than it actually is.

GPS's can be useful, but it is best if you follow Reagan's advice - "Trust but Verify" when you use them.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

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I think they're one more (bad) way that drivers' attention is pulled

**INTO** the car, when 99% of it should be OUTSIDE the car. We already know that too many drivers are blissfully unaware of what's going on around them, as evidenced by the way many people get onto busy highways.
Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Did those people carry supplies? Even when we drive from Phoenix to Tucson on the freeway, we take 7 gallons of water, dried food, a CB radio (despite cell phone towers everywhere along the route), two spare tires, and flares.

Reply to
larry moe 'n curly

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Can I interest you in borrowing my GPS and setting it to guide you to Death Valley so you can see for yourself? Death Valley is lovely this time of year, sorta like the inside of a kiln is lovely.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

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The same thing can happen with a map. You can't blame the driver for following the directions. You can blame them for not following them though.

People have been getting lost in the desert for as long as there has been a desert, when they don't have a map you blame them for being stupid and not getting a map. When they have the best map that money can buy, you blame them for being stupid because they use it.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

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The same thing can only happen with a map if you're stupid enough to be consulting it while the car is moving. And, it doesn't matter whether it's a paper map, or the map on the GPS screen. At least 90% of drivers are stupid enough to do this.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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Please provide the data set to support your statistic -- 90% of drivers ... .

Looking at the GPS, or the map, while driving is not what the story is about. Sadly, I think you completely missed the actual point of the story and fabricated your own conclusion.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

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You are correct in saying that the news story is not about GPS units distracting drivers, but the discussion has changed, and your own writing proves it. You will fail to see this, or you WILL see it and lie in order to feel like you have accomplished something today.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

This is obvious to anyone who cares to observe how other drivers behave. You obviously are not.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

I spent a decade driving for a living, and I do not agree that 90% of drivers are bad, so I'd like you to provide statistical support for your assertion. Right now all there is is some anecdotal evidence from a known sociopath that does not get along with anybody.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

In that case, you must be guilty of many of the same things as the 90%, so these things did not strike you as unusual.

I only have my own perfect observations based on 40+ years of driving, and they are more than good enough for you.

Let's ignore your locker room childishness for the moment and play a little game. List 10 things other drivers do which piss you off. I'll go next.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

So, we have a drug induced story of 90% of drivers should be taking the bus. No facts. No figures. Just wild, drunken, stories of crazies covering the landscape with piles of twisted metal.

They do lots of things that piss me off, but that does not mean that 90% of drivers should be riding the bus.

Drive too fast Drive too slow Use the blinker constantly Never use the blinker Play the radio too loud Drive in the wrong lane Drive in the lane I'm in Wait for me to get out of the lane I'm in, then get out of the lane they were also in, thereby remaining in my lane Doing the same speed as the truck, for 20 miles Driving up on a truck that had his blinker on, hoping to get into that space but now he can't

None of this has anything to do with your wild, unsubstantiated assertion that 90% of drivers should be riding the bus, and even less has to do with the story YOU posted about the woman that got lost in the desert WHERE THERE IS NO ROAD by following the route suggested by her GPS. You make up shit as you go along, do not back up the shit you make up, and demand I agree that you are right. Dude, you are almost never right, and I can count on my dog to exhibit more sense than you, and when my dog says something, odds are very high that she is right. When you say anything, odds are better that you are wrong. Flat wrong.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

In an earlier message WRITTEN BY YOU, you willingly participated in an additional aspect of this discussion USING YOUR OWN WORDS. Do you not see where you did this?

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

I believe my first participation was, "please provide a citation to support your assertion that 90% of drivers should not be driving," or words to that effect.

That's all I want to know. You have repeatedly said that 90% of drivers should not be driving, I just want the statistics. That's all. What we have to date is your drunken observations. I want actual data. That's all. Shit, or get off the pot.

We are not discussing ANY additional aspect at this juncture. Yes, I participated in discussing other aspects, but now I am only interested in my original question to you, do you have any support for your assertion that

90% of drivers should be taking the bus? Any support at all, other than your drunken stories or my list of 10 stupid things people do while driving.

YOU said that 90% of drivers (or more) are stupid. All you need to do is show me the statistics you used to arrive at that conclusion. Nothing more.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

The statistics are my own, based on many years of observation. That's all you need.

You're upset. Too bad.

Finally, you admit it.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

BUZZZZZZZ!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a loser. Step up and take a bow, loser.

Your years of observation and drunken assertions are the same thing. If drunken observations were all I need, I would be onboard with Global Warming. The fact is, the statistics used for THAT drunken assertion are picked to support the assertion while statistics that are not support the drunk are tossed aside, similar to the way you do it.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

You are obviously a member of the 90% I taught you about earlier. If you're in that subset of drivers, you have no idea how bad a driver you are.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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